Biography and Education

Ronald Burton started his career in dance at the age of fifteen, with a three-year scholarship at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. While at this institution, he studied Ballet, Jazz, Authentic Jazz, Horton, Graham and Dunham technique. In furthering his dance career, and multi-cultural interests, he sought other dance opportunities by working with Afro-Brazilian, Haitian, Caribbean, Latin and African Dance companies, while fulfilling another appointed scholarship at Clark Center for the Performing Arts.

He started performing various disciplines at an early age, with the likes of Rod Rodgers, Lavinia Williams, Loremil Machado, Charles Moore, Serge St. Juste, Djoniba Mouflet, Abdel Salaam and Alfred Gallman on the great stages of Jacobs Pillow, Avery Fischer Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Damrosch Bandshell/Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Theater of the Riverside Church and Symphony Space. He later furthered his folkloric studies by performing, touring and teaching with several Afro-Brazilian companies in both New York, Los Angeles and Salvador Bahia, Brazil.

While on the West Coast, he graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA), in the World Arts and Culture program, while working in entertainment management with clients: Diahann Carroll, Ben Vereen, Joan Van Ark, Nell Carter, The Pointer Sisters, Kathy Ireland, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr., Alfonso Ribiero, Dorian Gregory and Shemar Moore.

He also participated in the Jubilee 2000 campaign to end world hunger by performing with Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction) and Swing Brazil at the Coachella Festival (Palm Springs), the House of Blues (Los Angeles) and New Years Eve at the Shelbourne Hotel (Miami Beach). Ronald continued to broaden his repertory with the Rangoli Foundation, performing South Indian Bharatam Natyam and folkloric dances at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater, Barnsdall Gallery Theater and the Getty Museum, also in Los Angeles.

Ronald's performances include neo-classical South Indian theatre, vaudeville cabaret, avant-garde dance theatre, stadium and arena events and currently participates in Art and Education programs in the New York City Public School system. Ronald has served as a Visiting Instructor in Dance and African American Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and currently teaches World Dance at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland.